Pastry brushes, paint brushes, and similarly designed brushes all follow one general construction. This construction consists of an elongate handle extending to a widened portion of the handle where a tuft, or short cluster of elongate bristles, is anchored to the handle by a ferrule or an adhesive.
There are several problems inherent in such a conventional construction. For example, there generally is no good way to set a brush down when there is fluid (such as paint on a paint brash or butter on a pastry brush) on the bristles. If the brush is laid flat upon a surface, the bristles will also contact the surface and the fluid on the bristles will flow onto the surface.
Other problems may occur when one tries to set the brush in the container (such as a can, pan or pot) containing the fluid. If the brush is left in the container, the fluid level may be so high as to extend over the ferrule thereby creating a mess for the user. In response to this, prior brush designers have added hooks onto the side of the brushes so that the brush may hang on the edge of the container. Such hooks are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,763,696 and 4,887,327. The problem with the hooks disclosed in these patents is that the hooks serve only as a hanger, and no provision is made for positioning the bristles with respect to the container and the fluid level within the container when the brush is hanging from the hook. Generally, the hangers force the brush to extend against the side of the container, which may be dirty or oily, or may have paint extending along its side. This oil, dirt, or other fluid may get on the handle or higher on the bristles than the user prefers. When the brush is used again, the user may get fluid on his hands, or the fluid on the brush may drip on the surroundings.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,338,731 to McBride discloses a paint brush holder having a helix which can be secured at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the brush so that it may clip over the edge of a pail or paint can. By securing the brush at a position away from the longitudinal axis of the brush, the brush may be held at an optimal angle with respect to the edge of the container. Thus, the bristles may extend into the container to drain excess paint. While this positioning is more desirable than that provided by the hooks in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,763,696 and 4,887,327, the addition of the hook may be an impediment to use of the brush and could possibly be dangerous to a user. There is a need for a more desirable way of positioning a brush with respect to a container and the fluid level therein when the brush is not in use.
The construction of paint brushes and pastry brushes is basically the same, with minor variations due to the nature of use. Generally, in a paint brush, the bristles are held together at one end and are crimped to the handle by a metal ferrule. More modern designs of paint brushes use glue or epoxy at one end of the bristles, the glue or epoxy forming a "knot", and the knot and the bristles forming a "tuft". The handles which are used with the tufts are usually plastic and include a pocket for receiving the tuft. The tuft may be glued in place with an appropriate epoxy or glue. Pastry brushes, on the other hand, because they are used in food applications, must be made of specific materials which are available for use in the food industry. Instead of typical bristles, filaments of nylon or boar hair are used for the pastry brushes. In addition, the handles and ferrules are made of polypropylene, because of its available use in food applications. Only a selected number of glues or epoxies are available for use in food applications because of the toxicity of many adhesives.
The limited materials available for use in the food industry can make the construction of a pastry brush significantly more difficult than the construction of a paint brush. Using plastic or polypropylene ferrules does not allow the advantage of crimping that metal ferrules provide. Instead, glue must be used to hold the tufts within the plastic ferrules. It has been found that the glues available for use in food preparation products will not stick to polypropylene or other materials available for food preparation products to a degree which is satisfactory to create a bond between the handle and the tuft. In response to this, manufacturers have formed the polypropylene handles with irregular shapes formed within the pockets in the handles. By providing these irregular shapes, the glue or epoxy may fill the voids around the irregular shapes and bond to itself around the shape, forming an anchor for the tuft. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,162, internal lugs are used to hold the tufts within the brush. The problem with these types of construction is that the internal lugs may be hard to form, or gluing within a pocket on the handle may be difficult or labor intensive.
To facilitate construction of the pastry brushes, the bristles or filaments are often formed together and glued at one end to form a knot. An internal ferrule then may be used which extends around the knot and includes ridges or protrusions for holding the knot in place. This internal ferrule is then glued inside a pocket of the handle or snapped into place.
As can be understood from the above description, the inability to glue a tuft directly to a polypropylene handle has led manufacturers to many different ways to overcome the problem of attaching the bristles to the handle of a brush. However, each of these prior methods of construction are labor intensive. There is a need for a more simple method of attaching the tufts to the handles.